DOSSIER

Bob Marley and the Resistance to War: From Vindicationism to Emancipation and Spiritual Health Bob Marley y la Resistencia a la Guerra: de la vindicación a la emancipación y la salud espiritual

Horace G. Campbell1

Recibido el 18 de agosto de 2015 Aprobado el 25 de septiembre de 2015

ABSTRACT RESUMEN Bob Marley became a philosopher of emancipatory Bob Marley se convirtió en un filósofo de la política politics. Emancipatory politics starts with a basic and de la emancipación. Política emancipadora que parte simple assumption that the African people think; del supuesto básico y simple de que el pueblo africano and politics must be based on openness, accountabil- piensa; y de que la política debe basarse en la apertura, ity, and the liberation of African women, collective en la responsabilidad y en la liberación de las mujeres leadership, and the security of the producers. At the africanas, en el liderazgo colectivo y en la seguridad de dawn of the twentieth century the Rastafari con- los productores. En los albores del siglo XX, el Rasta- fronted a number of revolutionary traditions. These fari confrontó una serie de tradiciones revolucionarias. were the traditions of the liberal democratic revolu- Eran las tradiciones de la revolución liberal democrá- tion against feudalism. Like most black people, the tica contra el feudalismo. Al igual que la mayoría de Rastafari knew that this liberal democratic revolution la gente negra, el Rastafari sabía que esta revolución did not include black and brown peoples. Rastafari liberal democrática no incluía a los pueblos negros y/o understood the racist logic of manifest destiny and cimarrones. El rastafari comprendió la lógica racista the vindicationists of the first period were opposed to del destino manifiesto y los vindicacionistas del pri- this liberal democratic creed that accepted imperial mer periodo se opusieron a este credo liberal que acep- wars as pacification. taba las guerras imperiales como pacificación.

Key words: Bob Marley, Walter Rodney, Africa, reg- Palabras Claves: Bob Marley, Walter Rodney, Áfri- gae music, rasta woman, philosophy ca, música raggae, mujer rasta, filosofía

1 Horace G. Campbell: Profesor de Estudios Afroamericanos y Ciencias Políticas en la Universidad de Syracuse, New York. Es también Profesor Invitado de Relaciones Internacionales en la Universidad de Tsinghua en Beijing. Ha publicado recientemente Global NATO and the Catastrophic failure in Libya (Monthly Review Press 2013) y Barack Obama and 21st Century Politics: A Revolutionary Moment in the USA (Pluto Press, London 2010). Es autor de Reclaiming Zimbabwe: the Exhaustion of the Patriarchal Model of Liberation, y Pan Africanism, Pan Africanists and African Liberation in the 21st Century. Su famoso libro Rasta and Resistance: from Marcus Garvey to Walter Rodney ya tiene ocho impresiones y ha sido traducido al italiano y al francés. Cuenta con más de cuarenta artículos en revistas y una docena de monografías y capítulos en libros editados.

revista Cuadernos del Caribe ISSN: 1794-7065 | ISSN-e: 2390-0555 | No. 20 julio - diciembre 2015 | pág. 13-32 San Andrés Isla, Colombia Horace G. Campbell

INTRODUCTION Addis Ababa in 1991. Since that time the front In February 2005, at the moment of the sixtieth has provided the conditions for a small group to birthday of Bob Marley, one branch of the Ras- accumulate wealth. tafari movement organized a major peace concert Our discussion of Bob Marley is to be able to in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Under the banner Af- place the resistance of the Rastafari in the global rica Unite, this peace concert drew more than context of the peace and justice movements, es- 250,000 persons to sing and dance to the tunes pecially the revolutionary movements of the Ca- of the core philosophy of the Rastafari, Peace and ribbean. Robert Nesta Marley was born in the Love. Hundreds of thousands of Rastafari and island of Jamaica in 1945. He was the product non-Rastafari had used the occasion to promote of an interracial relationship between an Eng- conceptions of love in the society that has been lishman and an African woman from Jamaica. designated as the seat of the African Union. Marley identified with Africa and broke the long For many Rastafari, this was coming home tradition of mixed-race persons who denied their to Zion. In Ethiopia itself, millions of workers, African heritage. Bob Marley was born in the last traders, students, working women, merchants, days of World War II and as a child, he lived at and cultural artists took a close look at the im- Nine Miles in St. Ann, but moved to Kingston plications of standing up for peace and justice. with his mother while still in his early teens. This Would the same government that ceded the space move arose because of the dislocations wreaked for the peace concert open up the space for a on the Jamaican country side in the wake of the new tradition in the politics of Ethiopia? Would demand for raw materials for war making institu- the political leadership in Ethiopia and Africa tions (the mining of bauxite in Jamaica). He grew teach the importance of Bob Marley for political up in Trench Town among the most oppressed emancipation from imperial domination? sections of the working class of Kingston and These questions have been answered very was influenced by the Rastafari movement. This clearly in the negative by the political intellec- was a movement that linked itself culturally to tual and social policies of the present leader- Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a multinational, multieth- ship of the Pan African world. Less than three nic, and multireligious state of close to eighty months after this Peace and Love concert in million citizens. Addis Ababa the ruling party and government One of the revered traditions of the current of Ethiopia used the instruments of the state to leadership in Ethiopia relates to the celebration ensure that a small elite aligned with the United of the continuity of the integration between the States remained at the helm of the government. state and one of the organized religious forces, An election, labeled fraudulent by international that of the Orthodox Christian Church. Chris- observers, was followed by repression, military tianity has been practiced in Ethiopia since the skirmishes, and within another year, a military fourth century and this has been a source of in- incursion into Somalia “to fight Islamists.” This spiration and spiritual energy for African Chris- expansionist campaign confirmed another tradi- tians at home and abroad. Positive references to tion, that of militarism, repression, and rule by Ethiopia in the Bible, especially the quotation, a small elite that dominate the institutions of “Ethiopia stretches forth her hand unto God,” coercion and administration. The current ruling had influenced a brand of African nationalism Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic that was termed Ethiopianism. This positive ref- Front (EPRDF) is comprised of a political alli- erence had been used by literate Africans at the ance that at one moment had proclaimed itself turn of the twentieth century to vindicate Africa to be a Marxist Leninist “revolutionary force.” from the racist propaganda that raged after the This front has held power since it marched into imperial partitioning of Africa. Vindicationism

14 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Caribe | San Andrés Isla, Colombia | Bob Marley and the Resistance to War: From Vindicationism to Emancipation and Spiritual Health and Ethiopianism flourished even further after military uprising in 1974 but the Rastafari sang, the victory of the Abyssinians over the Italians Ja Lives, and continued to proclaim the divin- at Adowa in 1896. Supporters of Ethiopianism ity of Selassie. Yet, because of the consistency included Africans who adhered to different reli- of the message of peace and love, the Rastafari gious practices. The positive identification with philosophy has transcended the other limita- Ethiopia included Christians, Muslims, and Af- tions and contradictions of this movement and, ricans of diverse religious affiliation. in the process, brought forth another tradition, When the Rastafari movement burst on the that of humans seeking to live in peace on a world stage in Jamaica, it had started out as an- militarized planet. other vindicationist movement and identified In the past forty years the literature and writ- with the official Christianity of the state and the ings on the philosophy of the Rastafari and Bob Emperor of Ethiopia. Thus Jamaican peasants Marley have served to shed more light on the and workers were involved in a movement that role of music and the song as a mobilizing force had to address political and religious realities in in society. Bob Marley was a cultural artist who both Jamaica and Ethiopia. Slowly, these Africans became internationally known as a defender of who claimed Ethiopia as their home began to love, freedom, and emancipation. The concert learn that not all Ethiopians spoke Amharic and in Ethiopia was supposed to bring a message of that the cultural and ethnic makeup of Ethiopia peace and unity to the headquarters of the Af- was richer than the simplistic and homogenous rican Union. The Rastafari movement and in- nation that was represented by the media. dividual Rastas had been eloquent advocates of This learning process has been continuous for African independence, self-affirmation, self-de- the past eighty years to the point where one can termination, and African unity and the Rastafari now reflect on the traditions of the Rastafari. songs of love and inspiration are now enjoyed in This reflection has been sharpened by the expe- all parts of the world. In particular, Bob Marley’s riences of those Rastafari brethren and sistren call for emancipation from mental slavery struck who have made Ethiopia their home. From the a responsive chord with humans seeking alterna- early days of the movement, anthropologists and tives to the present mode of social and economic sociologists had noted that the Jamaican peasants organization. claimed Ethiopian citizenship. The Rastafari had In this essay, I argue that the music and lyrics called for repatriation to Africa and had been in of the Rastafari not only provide inspiration at the forefront of the call for reparations in order the level of emotion and music but also inspired to repair society. an emancipatory framework for understanding The contradictions of calling for repair while reality. This emancipatory framework stands in holding on to the images of a semi feudal regime sharp distinction to the epistemologies of positiv- had been clear to citizens of Ethiopia, especially ism or structuralism, or what this presentation the overwhelming majority who were not Chris- terms the episteme of Babylon. It is the episteme tians and who were not aligned to either faction that is associated with what is termed modernity that had held power since 1930. These contradic- in the contemporary academy. tions became fully exposed at moments of grand Rastafari celebration such as the celebration of the 100th birthday of Haile Selassie (in 1992). RASTAFARI PHILOSOPHY: A The Rastafari movement derives its name QUANTUM LEAP from the given name of Haile Selassie before he Professor Rex Nettleford, the preeminent Carib- was crowned emperor in 1930. The given name bean scholar and cultural performer, has written was Ras Tafari. This Emperor was deposed in a on the tremendous contribution of the Rastafari

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in the search for dignity and freedom. Nettleford slavery opened up possibilities for grasping the (1999) noted, Rastafari standpoint, or what I call, the Rastafari epistemology. The Rastafari movement helped to Of all the people who have been fighting for reveal the extent to which “our whole perception human dignity, for Black dignity, and justice of ‘modernity’ is a mechanistic perception.” This to people of African ancestry the Rastafarians movement in theory and practice stood in opposi- are the only ones who have made the kind of tion to the mechanistic modes of thought that quantum leap that all civilizations must make, in stressed hierarchy (according to ever-descending terms of determining its own God, its own image units of analysis). The Rastafari never accepted and this is a fantastic development and this of the hierarchy that placed Europeans as superior course is not usually understood. human beings. This mechanism stressed not only the supe- It is the principle of a quantum leap that is riority of Europe but also the unbridgeable gulf one of the most important traditions bequeathed between human beings and the physical world. by the Rastafari movement. It is a principle that Expressed in the idea of the separation between can break the old mechanistic ideas of positivism spirit and matter and the domination over nature, and historical materialism that have dominated mechanistic modernity sought to represent itself Eurocentric thoughts. The authors of the book in universalistic terms. Rastafari dented this uni- on Quantum Society noted, versalism and called the whole system of thought “Babylon.” In this essay, Babylon is identified If we are to rediscover the moral and spiritual with the epistemology of the Enlightenment that roots of our society, we must do so in a way which proclaimed the sanctity of the individual and the mirrors, which extends and develops rather than inviolability of private property (Bauman, 1989)2. contradicts, the knowledge that science is giving It was in this era that the capitalist economic us about the nature of the physical and living system, the Cartesian view of life, the positivist worlds of which we are a part. (Zohar and Mar- natural science, and the universalistic worldview shall, 1994, pp, 1-13) gained acceptance. The Rastafari movement by its perseverance These scholars and the scientists seeking to opened issues of the nature of human agency, the grapple with the quantum realities of life un- nature of society, and the epistemology of social derstood that the “human brain is a natural inquiry. It is here where the Rasta confronted link between our perception and values and the the traditions of militarism, modernity, and the ‘cosmic dance’ of physical reality.” In the Rasta- Cartesian philosophy. By their reasoning and fari mind the natural mystic flowed to the point grounding, the Rastafari strengthened a philoso- where the Rastafari were involved in a cultural phy that broke the boundaries between the spiri- revolution on a global scale. The Rasta spirit be- tual and material, black and white, Christians came a powerful weapon for social and personal and non-Christians, believers and nonbelievers, transformation. This was communicated through rational and irrational, and the racial hierarchies a developed knowledge of science, especially in of humans. One of the core principles of the relation to the physics of music. At the same time movement throughout these periods was the fact the Rastafari sought to reawaken the moral and spiritual roots of Africa beyond Ethiopianism 2 This book argues forcefully that the Holocaust must be and vindicationism (Savishinsky, 1999, pp. 126- understood as a central event of modernity. This same indictment of modern processes of “rationalization” is to be 144). One of the core arguments of this paper found in the book by Anthony J. Hall (2003). The American is that the ideas of emancipation from mental Empire and the Fourth World.

16 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Caribe | San Andrés Isla, Colombia | Bob Marley and the Resistance to War: From Vindicationism to Emancipation and Spiritual Health that humans existed as part of a wider universe, current leaders of Pan African world and the and hence, were part of nature. Today, in the peace activists who imagined all of the peoples twenty-first century, the environmental philoso- of the world living in peace transcending racial phy of the Rastafari is more appreciated and it is hierarchies and capitalist exploitation. Our task during this same period when the voices of Rasta in this paper is to engage the issues of resistance women are being heard to expose the patriarchal and peace to the point where we can begin to traditions within the movement. Thus, in the repair the destruction unleashed by the cultures latter part of this essay we will highlight some of militarism, perpetual war and genocide of the contradictions within the movement. The The Rastafari sought to perform the cosmic intellectual interpretations of the Rastafari move- dance in relation to the physical realm and the ment had been dominated by studies that termed spiritual plane. Bob Marley was one of the nu- the Rastafari cultists “escapists” and “millenar- merous philosophers (or natural mystics) of this ian.” These interpretations formed a component movement who strove to popularize the ideas of of the positivist paradigm of Western social sci- peace, love, and spiritual health while critiqu- ence that accepted the eugenic hierarchies of the ing the imperialist system (Babylon). This effort early twentieth century. We now know that one posited an alternative based on the recuperative of the early impulses for the study of the Ras- possibility of peace and love, the healing potential tafari had been informed by the requirements of “positive vibrations.” It is in this sense that of the British intelligence establishment. The the Rastafari philosophy posed a direct transcen- work of Robert Hill in bringing out the role of dence of the binary ideas of Eurocentrism. We ar- Michael G Smith in his study of the Rastafari gue that Rastafari, philosophy, and reggae music Movement has clarified the real impact of the can best be understood in an intellectual milieu studies on cultural pluralism and imperial mach- that grasps the richness of the African intellectual inations (Paul). However, for African peoples and cultures and ideation system. It is an intellectual other dominated peoples, this epistemology of heritage that breaks the dichotomy of the spiri- positivism reproduced ideas and standards cel- tual and earthly planes of existence. The ability ebrating domination and imperial expansion. of the Rastafari philosophy to address both the Insofar as one branch of Marxism accepted the material conditions of the super exploitation of crude mechanistic hierarchies of Enlightenment Africans with another form of spiritual reflection thinking, those Ethiopians (from the Dergue) and spiritual energy is a supreme example of of- who embraced this variant of determinism and fering a way out of the false dichotomy offered predictability could not inspire the peoples of by Western ideation systems that remain intent Ethiopia and Eritrea. on separating spiritual and metaphysical realms In celebrating Bob Marley and the popularity from material realities. of reggae spokespersons, the scholar runs the risk The theme of self-emancipation seeks to bring of reinforcing the Western preoccupation with the fusion of the ideas of spirituality with the rev- the individual leader, especially masculine lead- olutionary changes in the material and technical ership. The challenge will be how to document conditions of production. Fusion and quantum and celebrate revolutionaries such as Bob Marley consciousness exploded in reggae music in order and Che Guevara by developing democratic and to provide emancipation from mental slavery so emancipatory intellectual frameworks (episte- that humans could open up their appetite for mologies) that challenge the liberal and gender- self-expression. Will it be possible to bring this based knowledge systems of the West. Herein lays energy to the political plane to intervene against the challenge between two intellectual outlooks, the spread of war and militarism in the region the masculinist and militarist conception of the of the Africa?

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RECURSION AND THE Both Walter Rodney and Rex Nettleford were TRANSCENDENCE OF part of the black intelligentsia informed by the VINDICATIONISM. vindicationist traditions of the late nineteenth In Rasta and Resistance: From Marcus Garvey to century and early twentieth century that af- Walter Rodney, this author (Campbell, 1987) tra- firmed the history of Africa and the contributions ced the growth of the Rastafari movement from of Africa and African civilizations. the Leonard Howell´s peasant commune to its international status. This study has been supple- The Vindicationist tradition had its origins in mented by numerous others establishing centers attempts by black intellectuals, writers, pamphle- for the study of Rastafari in universities inter- teers, and memorialists to vindicate Africa and nationally. But quite a number of these studies Africans, to defend them against their traducers continue in the western positivist tradition, and in Europe and the Americas who hurled calum- few grasp the movement’s dynamism and change nies about a dark Africa devoid of the African over time. Rex Nettleford (1999) has been one of past. (Martin & West, 2000, p. 87) the consistent commentators whose analysis has changed since his initial study for the University Space does not allow for an in depth interro- of the West Indies in 1960 to his present observa- gation of the vindicationist traditions in the Pan tions on the quantaum leap in the consciousness African world. What is important for this essay of the Rastafari. Similarly, Walter Rodney (1969) is the relationship between Ethiopianism, vindi- and Eusi Kwayana are two other thinkers who cationism and the Rastafari movement. Accord- fully understood the revolutionary possibilities ing to Martin and West (2000), Ethiopianism of the Rastafari philosophy. and Vindicationism arose as a radical critique Eusi Kwayana, also recognized that the Ras- of Euro-centrism. The Rastafari movement had tafari were not only rejecting British society, but emerged as vindicationism at the grassroots but were in the process of creating a new tradition in matured in the womb of the struggles against Caribbean society. In his words: Babylon. The intervention by Walter Rodney in the second period provided the important The placing of the stamp of Babylon on the break from the defensive vindicationist orienta- whole of official society and the wide acceptance tion to the positive and assertive emancipatory of this description is one of the landmark achieve- trajectory. ments of the Caribbean Revolution. The more it is seriously accepted, the more the culture divides into two poles of authority: a necessary forerun- THE WALTER RODNEY ner to any long term revolutionary objectives. INTERVENTION Those members of the society who do not accept Rodney, a trained historian unearthed the ac- or embrace the dress, or need the religious ideas, tual lived experiences of peoples from past great accept the language, those who do not accept the African kingdoms and is well known for his language with the movement’s definition of the work How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (Rod- order of things, accept the music. In fact, such ney, 1973). As a student at the University of the is the power of art that Bob Marley’s music has West Indies, from 1960 through 1963, Walter done more to popularize the real issues of the Rodney was inspired by the vindicationism of African liberation movement than several deca- the Rastafari and their love for Africa influenced des of backbreaking work of Pan Africanists and his choice of doctoral research. On graduating international revolutionaries. (Kwayana, quoted from the London University, School of Oriental by Campbell, 1987) and African Studies, Rodney spent one year in

18 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Caribe | San Andrés Isla, Colombia | Bob Marley and the Resistance to War: From Vindicationism to Emancipation and Spiritual Health

Tanzania, and Rodney returned to Jamaica to From this first dilemma, he went on to outline teach at the University of the West Indies in 1967. that history was not static, and that the Rasta- This placed Rodney in Jamaica in the period im- fari should not develop a static view of Ethiopia. mediately following Haile Selassie visit in 1966. Instead Rodney noted: “The second rule is that Walter Rodney consciously avoided the chit- African history must be seen as very intimately chat of the petty bourgeois intellectuals, and linked to the contemporary struggle of black ‘grounded’ himself in the hills and gullies of people.” (Rodney, 1969). Jamaica sharing his knowledge of African his- In his conclusion to this seminal essay, Rod- tory and his knowledge of Ethiopia. When he ney then articulated the need to transcend the observed the Rastafari studying the Amharic tradition of celebrating great men and kingdoms language in Jamaica, he sought to educate these in Africa. Jamaicans as to the multinational and multieth- nic nature of the Ethiopian state. In the process, For me then, African history, as carried out Rodney was critiquing the conception of the ho- by the black brothers and sisters, will have to be mogeneous nation state theory. Ethiopia was an a process of coming to grips with all the aspects imperial state and Rodney explained Ethiopia so of African history and with trying to determine that, in his words, “History [was] to be used as what are the categories into which we should fit a weapon.” This was the theme of his Ground- things, as distinct from saying, let us start and ings with the Rastafari and central to his thesis try to determine whether we can reconstruct of “African History in the Service of the Black African history along the same terms in which Liberation.” (Rodney, 1969). European history has been reconstructed. Be- In his lectures and communications, Rodney cause that analysis, where you utilize only the spelled out the positive aspects of the Ethiopian European criteria is itself the same process of traditions, while painstakingly clarifying the con- bastardization; the guy oppresses you and then he tradictions of the imperial nature of Ethiopian selects your terms of reference. Even when you’re society. Rodney outlined the contradictions of fighting him you use his terms of reference. But the deification of kings and kingdoms by point- what I am trying to suggest here is that we have ing out to the Rastafari that the majority of the to break out from those terms of reference. (Ro- African peoples did not live in kingdoms, and dney, 1969) that as workers and peasants, the challenge was to identify with the positive attributes of hospitality, This was the essence of his challenge to the respect for the elders, the law, and sharing tradi- old vindicationist tradition of celebrating great tions of the African ideation system. He elabo- kings, kingdoms and empires. Walter Rodney, in rated on the contradictions of vindicationism by the process of his groundings, sharpened another explaining that: term of reference, that of survival and self-eman- cipation. The translation of this challenge fell to The first contradiction, the first dilemma philosophers and griots of the natural mystics which one faces in attempting to utilize African movement such as Mortimer Planno. This author history as one of the weapons in our struggle is a can attest to the confidence and tenacity of these realization that, in a very real sense, we, as black grassroots thinkers who ‘assailed the church- people, are placed in [the] invidious position of state coalition which had legitimized oppression having to justify our existence by antecedents, in the name of civilization’. Planno, one of the having to prove our humanity by what went be- principal philosophers of the movement at that fore. (Rodney, 1969) time, worked closely with Rodney (learning and

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teaching)3. Planno was the crucial link to those Until that day the continent of Africa members of the movement that linked liberation Will not know peace in Jamaica to liberation in Africa, instead of in- We Africans will fight, if necessary sisting on repatriation to Ethiopia. He stressed And we know that we shall win that liberation of Africans at home and abroad As we are confident in the victory had been the significant theme in Rodney’s Of good over evil, of good over evil. groundings. (From the song “War” on the album Rastaman Planno was influenced by Rodney, and in turn Vibrations) became one of the griots who welcomed hundreds of young persons to the movement. Among the This was at a time when the government of new adherents who came under his influence was apartheid South Africa in alliance with western Bob Marley while he was still a ‘Rude Bwoy’ in imperialism wanted to preserve the system of Kingston. Here was a fractal recursive process at white superiority and exploitation over the region work. Rodney sought to break with the old vindi- of Southern Africa. The music and messages of cationist traditions and in turn, he set in motion the Rastafari demonstrated the reality that the a new process that would ensure emancipation. fate of the movement was not one that was simply Planno was one of the links in the recursive chain linked to the fate of Ethiopia. The Ethiopia to between the emancipation from mental slavery which the Rastafari referred was larger than the as articulated by Bob Marley and the self-eman- territory that was called modern Ethiopia. cipation of the masses as articulated by Rodney. Hence the songs of antiapartheid and antira- This Guyanese intellectual, Walter Rodney, grew cism were new sources of energy for a worldwide with this movement as he was influenced by the antiapartheid movement. The song “War” by Rastafari and in turn he was a great influence in Bob Marley and the song of Peter Tosh, “We this movement. For the Jamaican government, must fight against apartheid,” acted as a source this fusion between the radical thinking of Rod- of mobilization for a liberation process that drew ney and the natural mystics proved too potent, in peoples of all parts of the world to organize and Rodney was deported. Later he was assas- against the military machine of apartheid. Sanc- sinated in Guyana because he had worked for the tions, boycotts, and diplomatic isolation com- emancipation of the working classes, regardless plemented the mass democratic struggles of the of race and gender. organized and unorganized peoples of South Af- rica. This antiapartheid struggle drew in peoples in all continents, with the people of Cuba lending REGGAE AS A RALLYING CRY military support for the defeat of apartheid mili- Reggae as a form of communication was simul- tary forces at Cuito Cuanavale in 1988. taneously a rallying cry in the period of racist Reggae went to the roots of slavery and the wars in Africa. At the time of the South African resistance of the enslaved to inspire the youth. invasion of Angola in 1975, Bob Marley and the Wailers put the words of Haile Selassie to Do you remember the days of slavery? song to mobilize the Pan-African world against Do you remember on the slave ship how they apartheid. brutalized my very soul. When I hear the crack of the whip my blood runs cold.

3 Caribbean academic philosophers who recognized philosophy in the main as emanating from the European ideation system The reproduction of reggae music became a referred to Mortimer Planno as a “Folk Philosopher.” capital intensive exercise with the use of electric

20 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Caribe | San Andrés Isla, Colombia | Bob Marley and the Resistance to War: From Vindicationism to Emancipation and Spiritual Health keyboards, synthesizers, mixers, and reverbera- artists turned to the international audience be- tors. For the Wailers, the partnership with Chris cause the presence of a large Caribbean com- Blackwell of Island Records was a symbol of the munity in North America and Europe meant new partnership of reggae with transnational cap- that their records could be sold outside Jamaica. ital. The force of the music led the transnational Inside the Eastern Caribbean, migrants from Eu- capitalist corporations such as EMI, Columbia, rope and students from University of West Indies and CBS to sign on reggae artists. But even this (U.W.I.) who had risen above petty island chau- quest to use the most advanced technology did vinism helped to introduce the music of reggae at not soften the content of reggae, for Bob Marley a time when Rastas were still denigrated as “dirty and the Wailers, in their first album with Island niggers.” At the end of the sixties, Jimmy Cliff Records, went back to the horrors of slavery to was the most popular in the Eastern Caribbean bring a new thrust to Reggae: and his songs “Wonderful World”, “Beautiful People”, could be heard in the bars and dances Slave Driver the table is turning. of Trinidad and Dominica. His forceful protest Catch a fire so you can get burn of the war in Vietnam linked reggae to an anti- Every time I hear the crack of the whip imperialist movement that was developing in the My blood runs cold. Caribbean. These songs were all linked to the I remember the slave ship deep spiritualism of the Jamaican society. How they brutalized my very soul. Ethiopia was especially torn by militaristic They say that we are free conceptions and the wars in Eritrea and the Oga- The only thing that change is poverty, den reinforced the ideas of peace and love among Good God I think it is illiteracy the Rastafari. Rastafari were developing a new Is only a machine to make money. self-image, that of peaceful nonviolent cultural spokespersons. In Jamaica itself, the explosion of Not even the packaging which went into this political violence and U.S. intervention affected album could detract from the ways in which the Rastafari community in numerous ways activist Walter Rodney’s lessons of Groundings but throughout all of the turmoil, the Rastafari and Groundations were circulated. Imperialism maintained a sense of dignity and sought to re- was faced with that contradiction of trying to main aloof from the internecine struggles. Not sell the music to make profits while at the same even Bob Marley could stand aloof from these time promoting the anticapitalist ideas of Rasta. struggles. He was shot in 1976 in the midst of Bob Marley and the Wailers deepened the use of the destabilization of Jamaica by the CIA. Jamaican language in their reproduction of the song that spoke of “Concrete Jungle,” and “Four Hundred Years” of the same philosophy. Never THE WOMEN IN THE RASTAFARI forgetting the spirit of joy and the humor of the MOVEMENT slave, the Wailers wailed “Trench town Rock.” Despite the emancipatory lyrics of Reggae and The political leadership in Jamaica was not in- the profound appeal of Bob Marley, one of the sensitive to the power of the song, hence, both fundamental contradictions of the movement was political parties attempted to mobilize particular the sexist and macho elements of this movement. reggae artists in their electoral battles. Many Rastafari women found ways to express The Rastafari movement became a reference themselves and slowly Rasta women made their point to maintain some form of self-worth, but opposition to patriarchy known inside and out- this movement did not escape the deep patri- side the movement. Educated Rasta women, like archal tendencies of Caribbean society. Reggae the educated Rasta men, could not escape the

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positivism and mechanistic assumptions of the We must not confuse Spirituality with Reli- Babylonian epistemology4. gion. Rastafari must not be bound by religious Rastafari women have forced this issue of pa- perceptions because this will cause stagnation of triarchy into the open. Thus, scholars make a the movement and thereby create fundamenta- distinction between the old Rastafari movement lism. We must be open to the different cultures of of the preindependence period and the Rasta- Afrika and not demonize them because of biblical fari movement of the twenty-first century. Mu- interpretations. (MutaBaruka, n.d.) taBaruka, the reggae artist, acknowledged this contradiction in the movement and has written The important point to note is that this dis- articles opposing the deep patriarchy in some cussion of patriarchy is coming from within the parts of the movement, writing: Rastafari movement. The spread of the AIDS pandemic in the Caribbean made it impossible for A return to the feminine principle is very im- any movement to go forward without confronting portant in the unraveling of our ancient spiritua- issues of gender oppression, patriarchy, gender vi- lity. What we have professed has helped us so far, olence, and the insecurities of homophobia. The but it’s up to us to now move it further. We can AIDS pandemic demanded an informed society no longer be like Christian fundamentalists—or beyond the ideas communicated in Leviticus and Islamic fundamentalists for that matter—who demanded that proper sex education become part are stuck in a history that does not provide them of the new political culture. Increasingly, there with an understanding of new thoughts and new are scholars who are breaking the silences relat- life styles. We are living in a new era of informa- ing to sexism and homophobia in the Rastafari tion—a time when one can travel from London movement and among sections of the Rastafari. to New York in three hours, when one can click a It is on the question of sexism where one can switch and illuminate a stadium filled with thou- have a full appreciation of Bob Marley as a hu- sands of people, a time when a person committing man who had profound weaknesses. Some of a crime in one part of the world can be viewed these weaknesses are reproduced for history in instantaneously in another through modern te- the book by Rita Marley (2004), No Woman No chnology. This is the age of information, but ins- Cry. Yet, it is this same Rita Marley who has been piration without information sometimes leads to at the forefront of celebrating the positive contri- superstition. (MutaBaruka, n.d.) butions of Bob Marley. This was best exemplified MutaBaruka added, in the holding of the birthday celebrations for the sixtieth birthday of Bob Marley in Ethiopia 4 Imani Tafari-Ama recognized the limits of the modernist in February 2005. discourse and chooses to represent her case through the It is in this sense that Bob Marley represents postmodern discourse of bodies and identity. In this both the old concepts of Rastafari and also the study she sought to link the patriarchal anxieties of young new concepts. Here one can see the dialectic ex- males and the intense violence in the urban areas. Using a postmodern framework for exploring identity politics, this pressed in the life of the leading proponent of author brought to the fore the burning questions of the crisis the Rastafari. From inside the movement numer- of inner-city violence in Jamaica through the lenses of the ous Rasta women such as Yaa Asantewaa and political economy, gender, power, and embodiment. Despite the postmodern epistemology that placed great Makeda Silvera have been waging a relentless emphasis on identity politics, the author reinforced the voice struggle against all forms of patriarchy within of Rasta women, a voice that had been rendered silent by the Rasta movement while guarding against those the dominant discourses on Rastafari. Rastafari women who attack all Rasta men as chauvinists. From have raised their voices in opposing the sexism of those who turned to the Bible to justify the exploitation and violation the works of these women emanated the pres- of women. sures to give voice to the opposition to patriarchy

22 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Caribe | San Andrés Isla, Colombia | Bob Marley and the Resistance to War: From Vindicationism to Emancipation and Spiritual Health within the Caribbean and in the African Dias- to this militaristic culture and in the book on pora. These women were part of the New Rasta Blood, Bodies and Bullets we were reminded as to of the twenty twenty-first century. One academic the extent where gang leaders in the oppressed argued that that this new Rastafari movement communities identified with the masculinity of has taken principles that are essential to the Rasta Hollywood. faith (such as protection of and respect for the The interconnections among militarism, do- environment as well as demand for equal rights) llar imperialism, capital accumulation, sexism, and extended them to encompass a broader range masculinity, homophobia, and violation have of global issues. been brought forward by feminist scholars who The new Rastafari is a global cultural practice, have deepened our understanding of the gendered an expression in particular of black people and nature of the armaments culture. The Rastafari especially black women, but one which is also were opposed to this culture and pedantically held inclusive of revolutionary white men and women. on to the ideals of peace and love. But, however In this sense, the new Rastafari has made glo- much the Rastafari preached the virtues of peace, bal demands for greater equality for black and Jamaican and Caribbean societies could not escape other majority world womyn as well as a greater the militarization of the region in the expanded respect for the ecological system as a whole. Fur- warfare around the globe. In the context of the thermore, the effects of this process have been Caribbean, this global militarism was justified as a reciprocal in that the wider movement of black war on drugs. Peter Tosh and others wailed on the feminism has helped to foster changes in moving need to decriminalize the use of the Herb by sin- toward a more egalitarian Rastafari culture as ging the song, “Legalize It.” It was the intellectual well. (Turner, 1994) and political leadership of the Rastafari movement which forced the pace of the decriminalization of marijuana which we are now witnessing in the Ca- RASTAFARI AND THE ribbean and in the USA. One of the many challen- CONTRADICTIONS: THE WAR ges in this period will be for the Rasta movement ON DRUGS—CAPITALISM AND to deepen and develop cooperatives so that the de MILITARISM IN NEW FORMS criminalization of marijuana does not strengthen Whether it is the music, the locks, the beard or international capitalism. the spiritual use of marijuana as a holy sacrament, The album of Bob Marley, Burning, defied the or the gender relations within the Rastafari move- state’s conception of the Rasta. It was on this al- ment, all aspects of Rastafari culture are connec- bum cover where Bob Marley was pictured smo- ted to the repressive tendencies of the dominant king a joint of marijuana. Inadvertently, the cover culture. This is a culture of militarism and vio- of the album helped reinforced popular miscon- lence. By the end of the Civil Rights period in ception that Rastafarians were mindless smokers the United States and the intensified antiapar- of ganja. This is despite the fact that the content theid struggles in Africa, the United States had of this album included the clearest political mes- intensified its militarization of the earth with the sage of the Wailers, “Get Up, Stand Up, Stand spread of militarism and military forces around Up for Your Rights.” This political rallying call the world. This is what I have termed elsewhere by Bob Marley and Peter Tosh was backed up by ‘the military management of the international the words “You can fool some people sometimes, system.’ Hollywood featured warfare and violence but you can’t fool all the people all the time.” The and the new information technologies were mo- album contained printed lyrics so that those who bilized to ensnare the youth with war games and did not understand the Jamaican language could violent videos. Jamaican youths were attracted follow the themes of the songs.

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The images and language of standing up that handles over US$ 600 billion worldwide. and resisting oppression had been consciously The trade in drugs is part of the global capitalist mobilized by young persons who felt the brunt structure, but imperialism finds it convenient to of police repression. Today in the heart of the use the war on drugs to intensify the militariza- imperialist centers the youths are fighting this tion of the Caribbean. form of militarism and are organizing around the Not only does the trade in cocaine launder bil- theme Black Lives matter. This repression had lions of dollars through the Caribbean banking been visited upon the Rasta movement as a whole system, but also the war on drugs stimulates capi- and on individual Rastas through the so-called tal accumulation and repression at the same mo- war on drugs. Throughout the Caribbean there ment. It is in the Caribbean and Latin America is the use of the Dangerous Drugs laws to im- where the war on drugs meets the war on terror prison those who use marijuana. The state does to serve the needs of international capitalism. not seek to distinguish between the antisocial elements who take on the physical appearance (a) This trade recycles billions of dollars, which of the Rasta (False Dreads) and the true Rasta are laundered through unregulated banking who denounce all forms of violence, greed, and systems capital accumulation. (b) The war on drugs legitimizes military inter- Rastas may use marijuana and some individual vention by Drug Enforcement Agencies in Rastas may use cocaine but this personal use must the day-to-day life of the Caribbean, Central be distinguished from the international trade in America, and South America cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. The trafficking (c) The war on drugs justifies the abrogation of of cocaine in the region of Central America and human rights as the murder rates heighten and the Caribbean has strengthened the agencies of people call for sterner measures to deal with repression while the violence and gunrunning the problems of violence from this trade has completely deformed many (d) The efforts at dealing with narco-terrorism of the societies in the region. Cocaine, which is prop up the disinformation and psychological- traded like other commodities, requires a vast and warfare strategies of the war on terrorism. capital-intensive infrastructure which is beyond (e) Through Plan Colombia, the United States the capabilities of most poor people, including gives itself the right to intervene in the region the Rastafari. If one is to approach the question to fight terrorism. of substance abuse from the point of view of the health, security, and leisure of the peoples of the Cocaine and cocaine trafficking reinforce region, then there would have to be a different the distortions of the forms of capitalism in the approach from the militaristic approach to drug Caribbean and during the second and third pe- use that is inscribed in the War on Drugs. The riods of the explosion of the Rastafari phenom- War on Drugs reinforces militarism and police enon there was a determined effort to place the presence in all parts of the region at a moment stamp of criminality on the Rastafari movement. when the forces of democratization call for new Throughout the period of the growth of the forms of political participation. Rastafari movement there were sociologists who Drug production, smuggling, and distribu- simply labeled the Rastafari as violent cultists tion have become a sophisticated transnational (Cashmore, 1979). Numerous communities and business that has been facilitated by the neolib- police departments employed sociologists who eral policies of privatization and liberalization. reproduced this label of violent cultists. Through Therefore, the impulse to remove government their own efforts, the Rastafari have largely dis- regulations has led to a boom in an industry pelled this notion of violence in their ranks, but

24 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Caribe | San Andrés Isla, Colombia | Bob Marley and the Resistance to War: From Vindicationism to Emancipation and Spiritual Health throughout the world there are quite a number seek to engage the principles of love. The main- of young persons who are incarcerated because of stream media is still one of the central bases for their social and spiritual identification with the the reproduction of the ideals and values of the Rastafari movement. armaments culture. It is in this sense that the two key ideas of the Rastafari movement, peace and love, require serious reflection in this moment. RASTAFARI: FROM RESISTANCE This reflection is also urgent for societies in TO TRANSFORMATION AND SELF- Latin America and Central America where the EMANCIPATION Rastafari movement grew among the youth. Many Rastafari became internationalized through leaders who internalize a crude understanding of Reggae music. Throughout the world humans Marxism cannot understand the fascination that were introduced to the philosophy of the pea- the Rastafari holds for youths of African descent. ce and love through the words of reggae artists. Katrin Hansing (2006) in her book on Rasta, Marley’s music carried forward a long Caribbean Race and Revolution, examined the emergence tradition of music linked to human activity such and development of Rastafari in contemporary that his songs of education, of inspiration, of mo- Cuba. In the book she explored why and in what bilization, though encrusted in religious tones, ways as well as by whom the culture has been touched the youths of the region. This was so taken on and how it manifests itself locally. This clear after the release of the album Rastaman book brings out the internationalization of the Vibration. It is through the African heritage of Rastafari movement by showing how Rastafari the Caribbean peoples that reggae broke out of has been Cubanized into a culture through which the false dichotomy of the spiritual and earthly individuals are exploring, reevaluating, positively planes of existence. Rastaman Vibrations commu- identifying with, and speaking up and out about nicated the energy force that could be understood their blackness. In light of Cuba’s historically in all languages, by all peoples. Throughout the complex race relations and still existing problems Caribbean where the music was accessible, the of racial discrimination and deprecation of Africa, people identified with the words of this album she argued that Rasta in Cuba is contributing so that Bob Marley became a household name enormously in raising positive awareness about in the region. The album Rastaman Vibrations Africa, Cuba’s African heritage, and race prob- was a classic, depicting the use of the song to lems, and in so doing offering a counter narrative enlighten: a song of Africa liberation, “War”; an to the official discourse on race, equality, and occupational song on the plight of the worker, what it means to be Cuban. “Night Shift”; a song of praise, “Roots Rock Re- ggae”; a song of criticism castigating the Central Intelligence agency of the United States, “Rat BOB MARLEY AND THE STRUGGLES Race”; along with a song of hope, “Want More.” FOR EMANCIPATION AND SPIRITUAL The energies communicated in the song of HEALTH peace for the peoples of Southern Africa endeared Bob Marley joined the ancestors in 1981 when the peoples all over the world to identify with the the movement had not yet reached its peak. Yet, anti-imperialist and antiracist components of the such was the power of the art of the natural Rastafari movement. The concepts of love—love mystic that even after his passing the lyrics and of humans, love of life—becomes the anchor for sounds touched the lives of millions in all parts of the peace movement. In 2000, Time magazine the world. For this reason while Walter Rodney named the song of the Rastafari, “One love,” the emerged as the bridge from vindicationism to song of the century. Yet, the same media do not self-emancipation, Marley represented the bridge

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to spiritual health and emancipation from mental earth, as the water covers the seas.” For Marley, slavery. While demonstrating some limitations the weak of mind and heart can not make revolu- in his own philosophical outlook, particularly in tion. The weak conceptions of inferiority had to relation to his conceptions of multiple partners, be transcended in order for revolution to develop. Bob Marley was able to popularize reggae not Revolution and freedom was the constant theme only as a way of critiquing imperialism (Babylon) of the lyrics where Bob Marley was calling for but also to posit an alternative based on the recu- the prisoners of Babylon to be free, perative possibility of positive messages, the hea- ling potential of positive vibrations. (Ojo, 2000) Too much confusion; so much frustration While he was still alive during the violent I don’t want to live in the park struggles of Jamaican society, Bob Marley did Can’t trust shadows after dark not remain aloof from the political struggles for Like the birds in the tree, the prisoners must he had made a call for “Revolution” in his album be free. Natty Dread. Those who study wave theory and the physics The intensity of the struggles for change in of music are examining the lyrics and vibrations Jamaica placed Marley on the side of the people, of the music produced by Bob Marley and reg- and in doing this he was shot. In December 1976, gae artists to see how this art form and spiritual three days before a planned “People’s Concert” message emerged as a revolutionary form. Marley became a victim of the thuggery and vio- Firstly, Bob Marley used religious metaphors lence of the Caribbean. Despite the effort to stop to stimulate the imagination of the sufferers. In Marley, the wounded cultural leader gave a mov- the song: It Takes a Revolution to Make a Solu- ing concert in Kingston at the National Heroes tion, Marley starts out with the need for a mem- Circle in December, 1976. Bob Marley escaped ory of truth. He used the word revelation, which death in 1976 only to succumb to cancer in 1981, served as the opener for his call for truth. Sec- when he was only 36 years old. ondly, this truth telling and the politics of truth After the abortive attempt on his life, Bob would allow the people to expose the mainstream Marley consciously pushed this music of the politicians who perpetuated what was termed, Caribbean to become part of the world anti-im- ‘the Babylonian system.’ In contemporary soci- perialist culture. From the working-class commu- ety politics is about accumulation, exclusion and nities of Jamaica, reggae was taken to the salons divisions. Bob Marley said that one cannot trust of Paris, the big concert halls of Germany, and to a politician: “Can’t trust no shadows after dark” the streets of Holland, to the independence cel- adding: “never trust a politician to grant you a ebrations of Zimbabwe and concerts in Central favor.” Thirdly, Marley also calls on the people Park, New York. Reggae spoke for the oppressed to self-organize by standing up for their rights. Caribbean person but was also becoming an im- Earlier, Marley had called on the people to “Get portant vehicle in the counterculture of the age of up, Stand up, stand up for your rights.” Now, cultural repression. Reggae served as an antidote in this song on revolution, Marley was calling to the culture of repression which was promoted for the people to fight so that “Rasta can never by the Anglo-American media. Herein lay the flop.” Finally, Marley used the metaphor of the genius of Bob Marley. As an international artist storms and hurricanes to remind the people of Marley demonstrated that a cultural artist was at the chaos caused by capitalism and to call for his best when he was close to the struggles and the overthrow of capitalism: “blood a go run.” aspirations of the people. This was clear from Marley states: “In this process of revolution there his last two albums Survival and Uprising. In will be redemption as righteousness covers the Survival he returned to the message of Walter

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Rodney, who spoke of how millions survived the of the numerous philosophers of this movement system of slavery. Walter Rodney’s last words in who strove to popularize the ideas of peace, love, Groundings were: and spiritual health while critiquing the social system (Babylon). Not only have we survived as a people, but One is able to see clearly the ability of reggae the black brothers in Kingston, Jamaica, and music to transcend the binary distinctions of the in particular, these brothers who up to now are European ideation system. Both in language and everyday performing a miracle. They live and are in philosophy, reggae music seeks to transcend physically fit; they have a vitality of mind. They the binary vision of reality as a means of expos- have a tremendous sense of humor, they live in ing the militarism and destruction of Babylon depth. (Rodney, 1969) and offering a transformative vision of a future beyond Babylon. Albert Einstein as a peace activ- Marley joined the concept of survival with the ist sought to rehabilitate the human spirit and quest to survive the proliferation of the nuclear his work moved the study of science and physics weapons of the world. Survival spoke of Bob beyond the simplicity and determinism of the Marley’s personal “Ambush in the Night” press- European Enlightenment. In this way there was ing for “Africans Unite” with “So Much Trouble” a break with the old paradigms of rational and in this “Babylonian System.” Quoting from Mar- irrational human beings. This break with the con- cus Garvey: “A people without knowledge of past ceptions of simplicity, determinism, and predict- history, the origin and the country is like a tree ability has opened new doors for an appreciation without roots.” This musical expression linked of the diverse scientific contributions of peoples Rastafari and the Caribbean people to the ad- in all societies (Goonatilake, 1998). In the process vanced struggles for liberation at the front line of of rethinking the paradigms of science and the racism and imperialism. African guerrillas who revolutionary breakthroughs in the study of string were in the bush fighting the Ian Smith regime theory and wave theory, physicists who are study- heard this song as one of their songs of resistance. ing wave theory and the study of the universe have Marley’s appearance at the Independence celebra- noted the importance of music in physics: tions of Zimbabwe led him to make the prophetic statement, “Soon we will find out who are the real All sound and vibration would be just plain revolutionaries.” (Campbell, 2003) noise. Noise, therefore is unorganized vibration. But none can doubt there is order recognizable throughout nature from the uniformity of atomic REGGAE AND THE PHYSICS OF structures and behaviors to spiral galaxies whose MUSIC swirling arms of orderly stars span light years and The Rastafari and Ethiopian traditions that billions of years of activity. This innate order has emerged at the start of the twenty-first century been long recognized, researched and categorized were traditions that broke with the mechanistic and may be found in music theory. In vibratory philosophies of Babylon. In this essay it was our terms disorderly vibration can be organized in approach to draw from the quantum leap in the terms of music principles. Therefore music is or- consciousness of the Rastafari to draw out the ganized vibration or sound set in orderly prin- fractal framework that could shed light on the ciples of structure and behavior. The principles processes of emancipation from classical vindi- that make sound into harmonious music are the cationism and celebration of kingdoms to eman- same principles that govern all associating vibra- cipation. This framework was greatly assisted by tions throughout the universe—and that includes music and power of reggae. Bob Marley was one everything that there is. (Pond, 2000)

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In the analysis of music and physics, one Malidome Some has introduced to the larger scholar pointed out: “how any given vibration Western world the importance of the Healing gives rise to a complex yet simple series of subor- Wisdom of Africa. This book is now established dinate vibrations known generally as harmonics in the academy as an important contribution to- and these harmonics are relative to one another ward understanding the “finding of life’s purpose as are musical intervals.” through nature, ritual and community.” (Some, Scholars of all disciplines studying the rela- 1999). These three concepts are central to the life tionship between mind and body, between spirit (livity) of the Rastafari culture, nature, ritual and and feeling, between energy and the body place community. In this way the Rastafari movement great emphasis on the positive vibrations of music: follows a course that is linked to the traditions of retaining a world-view consistent with the dig- Musical notes produce their own specific nity of the human being. Insofar as the Rastafari sound vibrations of energy. Waves of sound ener- movement was linked to an emancipatory project, gy travel from the source and resonate in our it is important to see this movement as part of a ears, and in specific areas of our body. When we larger movement of spiritual renewal and affirma- feel uplifted by music we are feeling the ener- tion in the context of the contemporary struggles gy waves—the energy vibrations—in our upper against globalization and lobotomization. This torso and arms. Increased energy in our upper struggle against robotization and lobotimization torso and arms come up in our mental thoughts is very urgent when the capitalists want to turn as kindness—toward ourselves and with others. the present technological revolution against hu- This is a biological effect. It has also been shown mans in the service of international capital. that increased physical energy stimulates the The struggles against lobotomization in the flow of endorphins in our body, which, in turn, biotech century place the Rastafari movement increase our mental thoughts of well being, as in the ranks of those who oppose Western phar- well as blocking physical pain perception. (Kra- maceuticals and those who are resuscitating the mer, n.d.) eugenics ideas of Hitler. Humanity is in need of repair from the destruction of slavery and the Reggae music and philosophy can best be crimes of contemporary capitalism. This struggle understood in an intellectual milieu that grasps is one for the transformation of the relations be- the richness of the interplay among mind, body, tween humans and this transformation requires spirit, emotion, and energy. This is very linked the emancipation of all humanity, not just Afri- to the African knowledge system (Emeagwali, cans. Bob Marley sang: 2003) (Eglash, 1999). There is now an established body of scholarship that seeks to interrogate this Emancipate yourselves from mental Slavery intellectual heritage that rehabilitates the scien- None But Ourselves can free our minds tific and historical contributions of Africa to the Have no fear for atomic energy contemporary world. The ability of the Rastafari For none of them can stop the time. philosophy to address both the material condi- tions of the super exploitation of Africans with Bob Marley became a philosopher of emanci- another form of spiritual reflection and spiritual patory politics. Emancipatory politics starts with energy is a supreme example of offering a way a basic and simple assumption that the African out of the false dichotomy offered by Western people think; and politics must be based on open- ideation systems that remain intent on separating ness, accountability, the liberation of African the spiritual and metaphysical realms from the women, collective leadership, and the security of material realities. the producers.

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CONCLUSION Unity, peace, transformation, and human dignity At the dawn of the twentieth century the Ras- are the new struggles beyond vindicationism. The tafari confronted a number of revolutionary tra- Rastafari movement supports the call for unity ditions. These were the traditions of the liberal and peace in Africa; it calls on intellectuals and democratic revolution against feudalism. Like cultural artists to give meaning to the calls for most black people, the Rastafari knew that this peace which were issued in Addis Ababa. This liberal democratic revolution did not include call now includes the call for a genuine multieth- black and brown peoples. Rastafari understood nic, multireligious, multinational, and multilin- the racist logic of manifest destiny and the vindi- gual democratic and federated state in the region cationists of the first period were opposed to this of the Horn of Africa. liberal democratic creed that accepted imperial Diversity is a necessary component of democ- wars as pacification. racy. As Wamba-dia-Wamba (1996) asserts “The The Marxist Revolution in Ethiopia, the Cu- challenge of world social movements is to see the ban Revolution in the Caribbean, and the new entire humanity be constituted as one commu- revolutionary process in Latin America have ex- nity of people, i.e. democratisation.” (p.13). As tended the conceptual base for an understanding one writing from within the Rastafari movement, of revolutionary politics. This essay sought to ex- it is important to make the distinction between pose the ways in which the mechanistic concep- imperialist democracy (which is an oxymoron) tions of the Marxists in Ethiopia could not inspire and true democracy. The current phase of co- radical thought. In all of these confrontations, the lonialism is imperial democracy in that it labels Rastafari brought a simple message of peace. After people as “minorities” so that those “minorities” seventy-five years of repression, intellectual distor- cannot have a voice. One of the suppositions that tions and attempts to co-opt the movement, Ras- can be extracted from the present global struggle tafari survived and became part of the network of is that when we talk about race (in the externally movements calling for another world. After resist- imposed colonial definition of the word) we are ing Babylon, the challenge was to be part of a new talking about hierarchies; hierarchy is a con- formation, one that is based on the social transfor- cept that negates true democracy. Therefore, we mation of society in order to save humanity from should speak in terms of diversity, which recog- the destruction of Babylon. There are numerous nizes difference while removing the implication movements among peace activists, antimilitarists, of hierarchy, or racial superiority. women’s movement, antiracists, and the environ- This is the new tradition for which the Ras- mental justice movements who passionately share tafari is striving in Jamaica, Ethiopia, Africa, some of the core ideas of the Rastafari. The World and the Caribbean and indeed in all parts of the Social Forum has been developing as a network to world, in short a democratization which involves bring these peace and justice formations together. a planetary civilization. This author is of the view that the Bamako call of I want to go on record to say that the Rastafari the World Social Forum reflects a collective search are opposed to the Ethiopian invasion of Soma- for health and peace. lia just as the Rastafari movement is opposed to It is within the call for transnational citizen- the occupation of Iraq and the occupation of ship and genuine democracy where the Rastafari Palestine. in Ethiopia stand beyond the petty nationalisms The present arc of war across the Horn of Af- of nation-states. The Rastafari started out sup- rica and the Gulf along with the war situation in porting an empire during colonialism and are Afghanistan, Colombia, Libya, the Sudan, and now firmly against all forms of imperialism and multiple theaters of war ensure that there are militarism. Transnational citizenship, African major tasks involved in building the ideas and

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practices that ensure that the militarists all across We started by identifying the quantum leap the globe pay an extremely high price for this new in the consciousness of Jamaicans as it related to phase of militarism, plunder, and global inequal- dignity. This quantum leap has opened think- ity and insecurity. According to the natural mys- ers to grasp the Rasta stand or the emancipatory tic, many more will have to suffer, many more philosophies of the Rastafari. Quantum physics, will have to die. Our challenge in this period of fractal thinking, and deep spiritual powers places transformation is to ensure that the suffering and this movement on the plane that is recognized dying will not be in vain. as whole new terrain where humans rediscover In short, there must be a movement about the the moral and spiritual roots of humanity. These reconstitution of politics, the reconstitution of ideas and qualities include ideas, and the transformation of society. This has been the task of the peace movement and nu- 1) Must be holistic—where any part affects an- merous thinkers such as Gandhi, Martin Luther other part. As Jean Houston says, “we have King, Jr., Desmond Tutu, and Albert Einstein leaky margins.” who have contributed to the need for a new con- 2) Must transcend the individual/collective di- ception of society. This movement is growing in chotomy—where individualism and commu- the ranks of those who are calling for repara- nity goals merge. tions, peace, and justice. The reparations move- 3) Must be plural—where we accept that “all ment takes the question of peace to a new level meanings are true,” for the person who holds in calling on Europe to recognize the crimes of the meanings. (Matherne’s Rule: AMAT) genocide and enslavement. The peace movement 4) Must be responsive—where society becomes has been enriched by the ideas and practices of a living machine “designed to cope with am- peace activists on all continents and the work of biguity and creative challenge.” the Rastafari movement builds on the traditions 5) Must be bottom-up or emergent—where front- of peace and love. line citizens make the decisions, not top-level The Rastafari movement had emerged in bureaucrats. the colonial period as part of the vindicationist 6) Must be ecological—where humans are rec- project of Africans who wanted to establish their ognized as part of nature and treat nature as place in history along the same lines as the kings part of themselves. and leaders of Western civilization. However, the 7) Must be spiritual—where we seek spiritual realities of the traditions of African resistance answers to basic questions of life and society. along with the material oppression of the sufferers produced a philosophy that slowly transcended The Rastafari movement in the past eighty vindicationism. This was best exemplified in years inspired the resistance to war and reggae the move from preoccupation with Ethiopia and music remains a vital element of the global peace Haile Selassie to the questions of liberation in movement. This music is however caught in the Africa and African Unity. In February 2005, the middle of the war to control the minds of the sixtieth birthday celebration of Bob Marley was youth. Imperialism has now sought to mobilize used as a form of mobilization to support the social media on the side of imperial mischief in African Union and to support peace in Africa. Cuba and Venezuela. Working through what it Contemporary reggae artists in the twenty-first termed an Office for Transition Initiatives (OTI) for century continue to mold reggae music as a form Cuba, the State Department had organized a of communication and inspiration to challenge Twitter account to foment confusion among the the systems of oppression with the assertion of youths in Cuba. This battle is now manifest in the humanity of Africans, indeed all humans. the struggles within the Hip-hop movement.

30 Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Caribe | San Andrés Isla, Colombia | Bob Marley and the Resistance to War: From Vindicationism to Emancipation and Spiritual Health

However, while this struggle is joined in North Capitalist society has debased love to associate America, there are numerous forms of reggae and love with sex and sexual intercourse, especially reggaeton that are exploding in all parts of the heterosexism, while spreading hatred for persons earth where people sing the songs of freedom and of the different sexual orientations. Yet, from the love. This was seen explicitly in the place of reg- Rasta philosophy and the women’s movement it is gae artists in Tunisia. necessary to highlight the point that love is what It was Che Guevara, the revolutionary, who everyone needs, rich and poor, black and white, stressed that a true revolutionary is guided by fortunate and unfortunate. Rasta philosophy strong feelings of love. This idea of love has been suggests that without democracy and freedom, stressed by the Rastafari movement from the be- peace and healing, love and the use of love and ginning as the basis of peace and justice. The patriotism will be another tool of dictatorship. Rastafari emphasized that the struggle against For this reason, the movement in the twenty-first Babylon must be motivated and guided by love century has to transcend the love of great heroes, rather than hatred of the oppressor. It was in this great empires, and great males. area that the literature on the Rastafari has served to be a basis for disinformation and slander. So- ciologists who wrote on the Rasta claiming that REFERENCES it was based on hatred and violence could not Bauman, Z. (1989). Modernity and the Holocaust. distinguish between opposition to white racism Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. as a political act and love as a spiritual bonding Campbell, H. (1987). Rasta and Resistance: From force for human beings. Marcus Garvey to Walter Rodney. Trenton, N.J.; The concept of love as manifest in the Rasta- Africa World Press, Inc. fari movement in the twenty-first century goes Campbell, H. (2003). Reclaiming Zimbabwe: the back to the ideas of community sharing and so- Exhaustion of the Patriarchal Model of Liberation. cial collectivism and this has been an essential Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. See Chapter 3. aspect of the Rastafari movement. Cheikh Anta Cashmore, E. (1979). Rastaman: The Rastafa- Diop emphasized social collectivism as one of rian Movement in England. London: Allen and the core elements of the African ideation system Unwin. and the concept of the collectivism is manifest in Eglash, R. (1999). African Fractals: Modern Compu- everyday life. Mwalimu Julius Nyerere sought to ting and Indigenous Design. Newark, NJ: Rutgers develop this principle at the national level in the University Press. concept of ujamas or African familyhood. Emeagwali, G. (2003). African Indigenous These concepts were to serve as an antidote Knowledge Systems (AIK): Implications for the to the individualism and greed of the contempo- Curriculum in Toyin Falola (Ed.), Ghana in rary culture. The concept of One Love can make Africa and the World: Essays in Honor of Adu Boa- a difference in the lives of the youth who are hen. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. mobilized by the psychological warfare and self- Goonatilake, S. (1998). Toward a Global Science: hatred of a system that spreads war as peace and Mining Civilizational Knowledge. Bloomington: hate and selfishness as love. In the contemporary Indiana University Press. period when there was a President (George W. Hall, A. J. (2003). The American Empire and the Bush) whose policies are based on love and com- Fourth World. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s Uni- passion, it is even more urgent for the genuine versity Press. peace activists to distinguish themselves from the Hansing, K. (2006). Rasta, Race and Revolution: ideas of war that are presented as freedom. The Emergence and Development of the Rastafari Movement in Socialist Cuba. Berlin: LIT Verlag.

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